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A key portion of Planned Parenthood’s complaint against David Daleiden, Sandra Merritt, and the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) was brought into doubt as prominent abortionist Thomas Moran was caught in an outright lie in open court. Moran is the medical director of Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest.
Planned Parenthood, under the auspices of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), is suing the CMP for $16 million in damages in connection with undercover videos that the organization released in 2015, which clearly showed Planned Parenthood staffers haggling over pricing of aborted baby parts with a front company created by Daleiden and Merritt called Biomax Procurement Services.
Among the allegations brought forward is that employees of clinics exposed in the video series faced an increased risk of physical violence against them by “anti-abortion extremists” owing to the fact that their names were released on the Internet. But one of the most prominent “victims” disproved that assertion with his own testimony.
Last Friday, Planned Parenthood called Moran to the stand. Moran claimed that he was very “anxious” to learn that he was secretly filmed because he feared he would be publicly outed as an abortion provider. Moran testified that he never posts anything online about his work as an abortionist and, in fact, kept a low profile about his work, so as not to “draw attention” to it. Planned Parenthood is suing partly because of that so-called anxiety.
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But in cross examination, Liberty Counsel attorney Horatio Mihet, who is representing Merritt, uncovered examples of Moran himself publicly declaring exactly who he was and what he did for a living. Mihet challenged Moran with an online petition that Moran had signed listing his name as an abortion provider along with a pledge to be a “loud and clear advocate” for unlimited abortion rights.
When Mihet asked him if such an action was consistent with an attempt to keep a low profile and not draw attention to his work, Moran responded with, “Um, a teeny bit of embarrassment.”
Mihet then reminded Moran that he was a frequent contributor to the Early Abortion Training Workbook, an online publication produced by the University of Southern California’s Bixby Center in San Francisco. Moran said that he was “proud” of those contributions and wouldn’t remove his name from those public works.
Mihet then asserted that the defendants “did nothing to out you as an abortion provider, correct?”
Moran then answered that, “They outed several of my colleagues.” But they did not out Moran. He did that to himself.
Mihet then turned to confronting Moran about his previous testimony about keeping a low profile and being “anxious” about being secretly filmed. “The one thing you were anxious our defendants would do … you voluntarily did yourself in open court.”
Moran replied simply, “Counselor, you got me.”
Daleiden, who is being defended by the Thomas More Society, has taken it upon himself to issue daily trial summaries for those interested. Last Friday’s summary contained this note on Moran’s testimony:
“When defense attorneys showed him publicly available online documents where he identifies as an abortion provider, PPPSW’s Dr. Moran admitted his prior testimony that he had never disclosed his abortion work publicly was incorrect: ‘Counselor, you got me.’”
Daleiden is being kind. Moran’s testimony was not just incorrect; it was a lie. It’s a falsehood that Judge William Orrick and the jury need to take seriously when deciding this case.
One wonders if Orrick is an impartial judge in this case, since he has repeatedly cut off defense questioning that he considers too close to the issue of Planned Parenthood selling the aborted baby parts. On the first day of the trial, Orrick made clear that the illegality of Planned Parenthood’s actions were not the issue in this trial.
“[This case] is not about the truth of whether plaintiffs profited from the sale of fetal tissue or otherwise violated the law in securing tissue for those programs,” Orrick said.
In addition to the civil trial brought by NAF, Merritt and Daleiden are facing 15 felony counts in connection with the undercover recording of Planned Parenthood brought forth by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Those charges have to do with California’s prohibition on recording people without their permission, otherwise known as the two-party consent law. A jury trial is expected in that case, in which Daleiden and Merritt could face prison time if convicted.
